To merge cells in Excel, follow these steps:
- Select two or more adjacent cells you want to merge. Make sure the data you want to keep is in the upper-left cell, as merging will keep only that data and delete the rest from other cells
- Go to the Home tab on the ribbon.
- Click on Merge & Center in the Alignment group. If you want to merge without centering the content, click the dropdown arrow next to Merge & Center and choose either Merge Cells or Merge Across
Additional tips:
- If the Merge & Center button is disabled, ensure you are not editing a cell and that the selected cells are not part of an Excel table
- To unmerge cells, select the merged cell and click Merge & Center > Unmerge Cells or press Ctrl + Z immediately after merging to undo
There are also keyboard shortcuts:
- Select the cells, then press Alt + H + M + M to merge and center
- Alternatively, use the Format Cells dialog (Ctrl + 1), go to the Alignment tab, and check Merge cells to merge selected cells
Note: Merging cells keeps only the upper-left cell’s data; other data in merged cells will be lost unless copied elsewhere beforehand
. This method works for combining cells visually but does not concatenate text from multiple cells. For combining text data without losing content, use formulas like CONCATENATE or CONCAT instead
